The United States Census Bureau has released the new American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year
Estimates for the nation including those for the State of Mississippi, counties, and small communities.
The ACS is a large-scale survey of approximately 3.5 million addresses every year that provides detailed
population and housing information about our nation. The release of the newest ACS dataset, which may
be accessed at data.census.gov, marks the first time that people are able to compare data across three non-
overlapping time periods: 2009 estimates (encompassing data from 2005-2009), 2014 estimates (2010-
2014), and 2019 estimates (2015-2019). According to the Census Bureau, “Having three sets of
nonoverlapping data allows researchers and leaders across the country to analyze long-term trends,
creating a powerful image of communities across the nation.”

How has the State of Mississippi changed over the past 15 years? In the coming months, the State Data
Center of Mississippi plans to release a series of briefs examining socio-demographic themes including
family characteristics, age, poverty, and other topics across the rural-urban continuum. Please visit
www.sdc.olemiss.edu and www.cps.olemiss.edu periodically to check out the latest reports.